Family's small prefab farmhouses designed to make rural life more sustainable
Carleton County couple say more conventional homes aren't always suitable
A Knowlesville couple are building affordable, small farmhouses for the province they have grown to love.
Tegan and Leland Wong-Daugherty have been living in rural western New Brunswick for 25 years and recognized a need not only for affordable shelter, but also one that could provide sustainable living.
After the seed was planted, the couple began a business venture in the rural community about 100 kilometres northwest of Fredericton.
They started building prefabricated, affordable farmhouses with root cellars, hand-cranked water pumps and wood heat. Some models measure up to 336 square feet and have attached greenhouses.
"If you plan on growing your food, you're going to quickly realize that you're also going to need a way to store it," Leland Wong-Daugherty said.
The Wong-Daughertys' company, Appleseed Homes, builds homes from wood harvested from local lots and milled at the couples' own small mill.
The couple said the goal is to create more employment opportunities in the Knowlesville area.
Marieka Chaplin and her family bought one of the homes for their orchard in Keswick Ridge for the tourism factor, hoping it will attract people to the orchard to view it and add another revenue stream.
"It has a very special story to it because it's designed to be a rural home," Chaplin said.
The Chaplins are also working to install a fridge and stove that run off propane and are hoping to install solar panels.
Construction on their Appleseed home is expected to be complete by the spring.